Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Al Qaeda offers bounty for the deaths of Americans in Yemen

Israel remains an island of sanity and stability in a very dangerous neighborhood. Here's the latest from Yemen:

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) terrorists have offered a bounty of three kilos of gold, worth $160,000, for the head of Ambassador Gerald Feierstein. Feierstein, a specialist in Near East and South Asian Affairs, entered the Foreign Service in 1975 an has served eight overseas assignments. A smaller bounty — roughly $23,000 — is being offered to anyone who kills a U.S. soldier in Yemen. The incitement to murder were meant to “inspire and encourage our Muslim nation for jihad,” according to a recording produced by Al Qaeda’s media arm and posted on militant websites on Saturday. Jihad, of course, implies an internal struggle. The offer is valid for six months.

“We take these threats very seriously,” said agency spokesman Peter Velasco. “Our embassy in Yemen already operates in a highly sensitive and difficult situation. We continue to support the government, military and people of Yemen.” AQAP mostly homegrown terrorists from Yemen and Saudi Arabia is regarded as the most dangerous branch of the network founded by Osama bin Laden.

In September Al Qaeda terrorists in Libya killed U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in the Benghazi.